Search the Dictionary

A brisk, showy, gay man. The finest sparks and cleanest beaux. Prior.

A mop for cleaning the bore of a cannon after a discharge. It consists of a cylinder of wood, covered with sheepskin with the wool on, or cloth with a heavy looped nap, and having a handle, or staff.

To sprinkle; to scatter. [Obs.] He would sowen some difficulty, Or springen cockle in our cleane corn. Chaucer.

To baptize by the application of a few drops, or a small quantity, of water; hence, to cleanse; to purify. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Heb. x. 22.

fine and exalt; to heighten; to elevate. The precepts of Christianity are . . . so apt to cleanse and sublimate the more gross and corrupt. Dr. H. More.

To clean, as the beak; -- said of a hawk.

To clean with a mop or swab; to wipe when very wet, as after washing; as, to swab the desk of a ship. [Spelt also swob.]

cer on board of British ships of war, whose business it was to see that the ship was kept clean.

to remove loose dirt, dust, etc.; to brush, or rub over, with a broom for the purpose of cleaning; as, to sweep a floor, the street, or a chimney. Used also figuratively. I will sweep it with the besom of destruction. Isa. xiv. 23.

One who, or that which, sweeps, or cleans by sweeping; a sweep; as, a carpet sweeper. It is oxygen which is the great sweeper of the economy. Huxley.

Cleaning off surfaces, or cleaning away dust, dirt, or litter, as a broom does; moving with swiftness and force; carrying everything before it; including in its scope many persons or things; as, a sweeping flood; a sweeping majority; a sweeping accusation. -- Sweep"ing*ly, adv. -Sweep"ing*ness, n.

A complete removal or carrying away; a clean sweep. [Obs.] Bp. Hacket.

To clean, as flax, by beating it with a swingle, so as to separate the coarse parts and the woody substance from it; to scutch.

le which is sometimes at the end of a flexible tube; -- used for injecting animal bodies, cleansing wounds, etc. Garden syringe. See Garden.

move from within a place; to separate; to deduct. (b) To draw out; to remove; to clear or cleanse from; as, to take out a stain or spot from cloth. (c) To produce for one's self; as, to take out a patent. (d) To put an end to; as, to take the conceit out of a man. (e) To escort; as, to take out to dinner. -- To take o…

ition of property; increase of worldly goods; gain; prosperity. "Your thrift is gone full clean." Chaucer. I have a mind presages me such thrift. Shak.

Not ragged; whole; neat; tidy. Clad very plain, but clean and tight. Evelyn. I'll spin and card, and keep our children tight. Gay.

.] Jamieson. -- Tooth ornament. (Arch.) Same as Dogtooth, n., 2.Tooth paste, a paste for cleaning the teeth; a dentifrice. -- Tooth powder, a powder for cleaning the teeth; a dentifrice. -- Tooth rash. (Med.) See Red-gum, 1. -- To show the teeth, to threaten. "When the Law shows her teeth, but dares not bite." Youn…

A brush for cleaning the teeth.

men of the lower classes; -- called also toy mutch. [Scot.] "Having, moreover, put on her clean toy, rokelay, and scarlet plaid." Sir W. Scott.